


A Pebble Under the Scales

by speckled_dragon



Category: Drag-On Dragoon | Drakengard
Genre: Bathing/Washing, Canon Disabled Character, Canon-Typical Behavior, Contemplation, F/M, Non-Sexual Intimacy, SFFest28, Small Fandom Fest 28, Telepathic Bond, what is love but simply not hating each other as much as you hate everyone else
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-04
Updated: 2021-01-04
Packaged: 2021-03-14 05:22:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28540275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/speckled_dragon/pseuds/speckled_dragon
Summary: Caim thinks on how things have changed between him and the Red Dragon.Prompt fill for Small Fandom Fest: bathing your dragon.
Relationships: Caim/Red Dragon | Angel(us)
Kudos: 12
Collections: Small Fandoms Fest





	A Pebble Under the Scales

Caim sighed as his companion glided lower to the ground, the trees now close enough to nearly brush against the scales of her belly. Night had fallen, the moon large in the sky and the stars bright without the light pouring from the castle to hide them from sight. But still, he did not see the point in stopping; she was likely not tired in the slightest and he only had to deal with the exhaustion of keeping himself perched on her back. 

She read his thoughts with the ease of one with access to them, and spoke aloud. “You may not feel your exhaustion now, but you will be of no use to your precious Goddess if we were to continue on as we are.” 

Caim scowled but could see her point. He didn’t want to fly through the night only to fall to some soldier’s sword as he worked to keep Furiae safe. The red dragon, sensing his concession, didn’t say anything as she lowered them into a glade. 

The grass looked soft beneath them, though Caim couldn’t feel it as he jumped off of her back and opened his satchel in search of hardtack. When he glanced at her the red dragon huffed, a plume of smoke curling from her nostrils before the wind whipped it away. “Save your morsels for yourself, human. I will seek out sustenance on my own.” 

He nodded and found a seat on a mossy rock as she took to the sky again. He ate in the silence, the animals frightened to make a sound and him incapable of the same. Sometimes he would tune into the red dragon’s thoughts, but they were of the same mind – irritation at working with the other, hunger that was more of a habit to be sated than any true desire, and the similar. 

Caim sighed and finished eating, wiping his hands against his breeches to clear them of crumbs. It was just as well that they were of one mind, he thought in amusement. If their souls had twined without their minds following suit, who was to know what would happen. 

He made a fire with the remaining time he had before his companion returned, the task easy with the aid of his magic. He was rolling out his sleeping mat when he felt the air shudder around him, and he looked up to see the red dragon landing across from the fire from him, her muzzle bloody. When she looked at him, he nodded in greeting, but she scoffed back. 

“Even now you can’t contain your race’s need to destroy all they see in sight,” she said, and he looked to the fire before glancing back at her. Those were bold words coming from a walking furnace. It wasn’t like she would be sharing her warmth with him. She sniffed at his thoughts and curled up, her back turned to him. “Well, I suppose you aren’t a complete fool. Only mostly one.” 

The jab was weak, and Caim ignored it to lay down on his mat. Against his will, he found her deep breathing soothing, and felt himself drifting off to sleep at a surprising rate. 

* * *

How things have changed, Caim reflected, thinking back to one of the first nights that they spent in each other’s company. Again, they were flying together, but this was after a battle, their enemies laid to waste and his bloodlust sated for the time being. The Red Dragon flew them back to their nominal allies, her wings stronger and longer than they were in that memory, their time together measured in the miles they’ve traveled; in the blood they have spilled. 

“To measure time in such a manner...is it not finite?” She asked him, her voice filling his mind so that she did not need to speak against the wind. “There can only be so many enemies; only so much blood before you’ve suffocated the earth beneath it all.” 

Caim thought on that as they landed near the others and the prince found himself besieged on all sides. Leonard, asking if he must have been so cruel to cut them all down while his Fairy giggled behind him, Arioch joining the being with her own laughs, and Seere asking if he’d defeated all of the bad guys. He brushed them all aside with the ease of practice and began walking, all of them ceasing their pointless questions as they trailed behind him while the Red Dragon took once more to the skies. 

Was time truly so finite when you measured it in death? Caim did not think so. Death had been his measurement of time ever since his parents were killed by the black dragon in his youth; ever since his sister was marked as the Goddess and destined to die young and have no family. Death was reliable, inevitable, far better to measure by than forgettable things like love or happiness. And it wasn’t as if Caim was lying to himself; his life would be cut shorter than any natural means would lead to. Be it the end of the world like Verdelet kept spouting or by some enemy combatant, Caim would not have a peaceful death. And that’s what he preferred. 

The Red Dragon was silent as she read his thoughts. They did not speak for what time remained for travel with the rest of his party, and when Caim made the campfire they would be sleeping by she returned and dropped a deer carcass beside him, her muzzle bloody from another kill. 

He nodded his thanks but, as he turned to skin and cut the deer, she tossed her head to the side to present her neck to him. “You have already done your job as a butcher today,” she announced aloud, Leonard flinching at her words. “Leave this task to the others, and come with me.” 

He gave into her demands easily, a flicker of amusement going through him as Leonard went to the deer to dress and cook it himself. He got on her neck and together they flew to a nearby glade where a lake was glittering beneath the moon. As they flew over it the Red Dragon twisted midair and he relaxed into the motion, letting himself fall off and be submersed in the water. She landed beside him a moment later, chuckling to herself as he resurfaced and gave her an unamused look. 

Together, they bathed in the water, washing away the dust and viscera of the day. He finished before she did and assisted her, his hands smoothing over her scales as he both wiped away the blood that hid so easily on her hide and checked her for any injuries. 

She snorted as she read his intentions, and steam rose the water in response to her warm breath. “You think me so weak as to be injured by that pathetic Empire? Worry more for your Goddess, human.” But even as she said that she leaned into his touch, their arguments little more than lines they’ve grown used to parroting. His lips quirked up into a slight smile, and he thought nothing back in response as he pulled a rock out from beneath her scales, ignoring how she shuddered in response like an itch had been scratched. 

She turned her head to look at him with one eye as he tossed the rock away. “That is how I used to think of you,” she told him. Caim looked at where he’d thrown the rock before looking at her again. She nodded. “As a pebble under my scales. Small. Irritating. Stuck with me despite my best efforts.” She exhaled, and they both watched the steam rise from the water in response. “Perhaps I have grown used to you now. I cannot feel the agitation you once inspired in me. Well, unless you are being particularly annoying.” 

She sounded amused as Caim gave her a look and reached up to her horns to jostle one of them. “Oh, hush. As if you aren’t used to being told how annoying you are.” Her great tail swept up behind him and Caim only had time to close his eyes before he was hit with a large wave of water and pushed against her side. She chuckled again as he pushed his soaking hair from his eyes and glared at her. “Save your theatrics for your fellow humans, you should know by now that they do not work on me, Caim.” 

The Red Dragon pushed her head beneath his hands demandingly, and they spent the rest of their bath in silence. When she flew him back to the others, they said nothing about his soaking wet clothing and Seere brought him a cooked deer haunch to eat. The rest of the night was spent listening to their idle chatter with the Red Dragon curled around him, her warmth and slow breaths lulling him to sleep. 


End file.
